NQF applauds continued funding for quality

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The National Quality Forum (NQF) has applauded new legislation passed by the US Senate on March 31 that includes important investments into quality performance and improvement for Medicare.

The Protecting Access to Medicare Act of 2014 provides a one year update to the Sustainable Growth Rate (SGR) in order to protect beneficiary access to Medicare physician services.

The bill also provides $5 million in funding for FY2014 and $15 million in funding for FY2015 that the NQF can use to support ongoing quality measure endorsement work and to convene multi-stakeholder groups to review measures for use in Medicare and other payment programs.

Building on funding available from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, this new investment provides resources to meet the demands of critical quality measurement and improvement activities.

"We urge Congress to continue their work on comprehensive Medicare physician payment reform that rewards quality, while thanking them for their consistent, ongoing support of NQF,” said Dr Christine Cassel, president and CEO at NQF. "We look forward to continuing NQF's work on quality measurement endorsement and improvement that is needed to move us closer to a truly value based healthcare system."